3D animation gives evidence more bite

ANIMATED 3D reconstructions of a crime suspect's teeth biting a victim could make forensic bite-mark matching more accurate. Error rates are still too high for definite identification, but the technique could help jurors make their minds up.

Forensic bite-mark matching has come in for severe criticism. A handful of recent murder convictions in the US that relied on bite-mark evidence were overturned after DNA evidence came to light. And previous research has shown that even under ideal conditions matching bite marks is fallible (New Scientist, 13 March 2004, p 6)

One major problem is the way the evidence is collected. Odontologists usually have to try to match photographs of bite marks to "overlays" of the suspect's teeth - 2D images of the pattern that teeth make when they bite onto a flat surface. But bite marks that curve around arms and fingers look different.

"More than half of the photos ...

To continue reading this article, subscribe to receive access to all of newscientist.com, including 20 years of archive content.

To continue reading this article, log in or subscribe to New Scientist